CPV Consortium to steer rapid growth in solar

Solar/PV

CPV Consortium to steer rapid growth in solar

Founding members include Concentrix Solar, Emcore, ISFOC, Isofoton, and SolFocus

Friday, September 26, 2008

SUNNYVALE, USA: Founding members announced the establishment of an industry organization, the CPV Consortium, focused on supporting the development and optimizing the success of concentrating photovoltaics (CPV) as a mainstream energy source.

The CPV Consortium is a global organization comprised of members from all segments of the CPV industry, which uses mirrors and lenses to concentrate sunlight onto high efficiency solar cells in order to generate more solar electricity from dramatically less photovoltaic material.

Membership is open to all companies and institutions that have a vested interest in advancing the CPV industry. Founding members include Concentrix Solar (Germany), Emcore (USA), ISFOC (Spain), Isofoton (Spain) and SolFocus (USA) who have been working on the creation of this organization for the past 12 months.

Developments in the CPV area have been extensive in the past few years, fueled by the efforts of innovative companies contributing to all aspects of this emerging next generation photovoltaic technology. "Today CPV is on the cusp of delivering on its promise of low-cost, reliable solar-generated electricity that will be cost competitive with traditional energy sources," explained Nancy Hartsoch, Director of the CPV Consortium and VP of Marketing for SolFocus.

He added: "The challenge now is to assure that a proper foundation and infrastructure is in place to support CPV, which is why we are pleased to have a broad and expanding membership which will include cell and material suppliers, panel suppliers, tracker companies, integrators, power generators, universities and government organizations, among others." Veeco and 3M, leading equipment and materials suppliers to the CPV industry, have also joined the Consortium as charter members.

Dr. Pedro Banda, Director General of founding member ISFOC commented on the organization: "The CPV consortium is a key instrument to allow for this growth, bringing together all key industrial and R&D players. It is with this type of commitment that we all can ensure the future of this technology, becoming a major trend and providing global solutions for the deployment of renewable energies. ISFOC is committed together with the industrial players to support their technology and product developments and serve as their test bed. This consortium will help bringing CPV up to the pace at which the PV market is growing across the world."

"With its outstanding efficiencies CPV technology has an immense potential for lowering costs of solar electricity," commented Hansjorg Lerchenmuller, CEO of Concentrix Solar. "In order to fully exploit the potential of the technology we need to join forces throughout the whole CPV industry."

Membership is available at several levels including Charter Membership which includes a seat on the steering committee, General Membership, and Informational Membership. Governmental, University and non-profit memberships are available on an invitation-only basis. Interested parties should contact the Consortium at info@cpvconsortium.org for more information.

"It is crucial for the companies participating in the CPV industry to collaborate and ensure that this technology meets and exceeds the cost and performance requirements of the global energy market. The CPV Consortium is the mechanism where the industry leadership will partner to ensure Concentrating PV systems reach their full market potential," explained David Danzilio, VP and GM for Emcore's Space and Terrestrial Solar Products.

Vincente Diaz, CPV Business Manager for ISOFOTON S.A. added: "CPV technology means a cost effective and reliable product in the PV sector. The mature technologies present in CPV allow big improvements in terms of system efficiencies. It is the right moment for joining in a powerful team that could boost CPV technology market presence in the short term."

The CPV Consortium has just launched its membership drive. The group will be having informational meetings at Solar Power International '08 in San Diego October 14-16, 2008, and will also be leading a preconference workshop, the CPV 101, on Monday, October 13.

Visit http://www.solarpowerconference.com for more information on the workshop.

©CIOL Bureau